Final Confrontations
by BritT717
Summary: The guild is back together and life for our Fairy Tail mages is getting back to normal. But everything will soon change with the impending war looming. Many trials are coming for our friends, but can they get over their betrayal and heartache to come together and fight Zeref? When will END be reviled? Is love truly One Magic or something else...? NALU FIC. Manga Spoilers!
1. Chapter 1

**Hello every one! This has been in my head for so long, and I finally have time to get it down! I hope you all enjoy it! There are Major Spoilers in here as I pick up right after Fairy Tail has come back together. Please Review! This is Rated M for future content. I intend to add some Lemons, violence, coarse language, among other things. This may turn out darker than the manga. Enjoy!**

* * *

Lucy stared at the blank page on her desk. Writing was something that had always come easy to her. But that was before the events leading up to Fairy Tail's disbandment. Her quill shook in her hand as she tried to force her brain to come up with something to put down on the page.

It had been a year since then and everything seemed to be getting back to normal. She was back in her old apartment, most of the old members had come back, and the guild hall was being rebuilt. Everything should have been great!

So why was she not happy?

She was _happy_ that things seemed to be getting back to normal. But maybe that was just it. Things could never go back to normal again. Not in the way they had been just one year ago.

Lucy found herself staring at Aquarius' key, sitting on her desk, serving as a constant reminder that things will never be the way they were. She grabbed the key gently and cradled it in her palm like it was made of the most fragile of glass. Looking at the broken key stirred up painful memories that she had to bare alone.

She had yet to tell any of her friends about Aquarius. The thought of even speaking it was gut wrenching. To speak it meant that it was real and she couldn't bring herself to say those words yet. The words that she had sacrificed one of her precious friends to save the lives of her comrades. One life in the exchange of many was one life too many.

 _"Why was it that she had to make that decision? Why did she have to have this sin hanging over her head?"_

Her head came down to rest on her desk, giving up on writing anything. She stayed like that for a while, trying to get the motivation to get up and do something. Slowly she got up and went to her closet, picking out clothing for the day.

"I might as well head to the guild. I have 2 weeks before rent is due and I need to make some money."

She strapped her keys to her belt and headed off to the guild hall.

* * *

The temporary guild hall was as rowdy as ever. For the most part it was finished, the inside was furnished and things were getting back to normal. Jobs were posted on the board for the returning mages to take, people were at the bar being served, and some brawls had already started even though it was only 10am. Jobs had flocked in ever since the news of Fairy Tail's resurrection had gotten around. It was nice to see that the people had missed the famed guild while it had been gone.

Lucy walked up to the bar and ordered a coffee, scanning the hall for her pink haired partner. "Hmmm, he must not be here yet" she mused to herself.

Maybe that was for the best. She was stronger now. She could handle a job on her own! She hadn't been doing just nothing for the whole year everyone have been away. The best part would be she wouldn't have to split the reward, or fork over half of it because her partner had destroyed half the town.

Strolling over to the job board she scanned for a job that would be just her speed. No fighting monsters or battling thieves. One page stuck out to her.

 _A request of a mage/mages,_

 _We require assistance to locate a lost relic. The Key of the Sky has been lost for millennia. New documents have been found that may lead to its recovery. We request the help of an intelligent mage who may be able to help decipher the documents and help in the effort to retrieve the artifact._

 _Reward 500,000 jewels._

"Perfect! I just finished reading those books Levy gave me on ancient text. And no risk of monsters and the reward is large enough to cover my rent for months!" Lucy ran over to Mira at the bar and handed her the paper. Mira looked around for a minute. "No Natsu?" Lucy grinned nervously. "Umm, this job doesn't look too difficult! And I am a lot stronger than I used to be. I can handle this." she said planting on a fake smile.

Mira gave her a look, but hesitantly logged the job in the log book. "When will you be leaving?" she inquired to the celestial mage.

"The job is in Sunflower City. That's about a 7 hour train ride from her. I'll probably leave as soon as possible, so I can be back quicker. They want me to decipher some old texts, who knows, they may not even say where this Key of the Sky is." Lucy said as she finished up her coffee.

Mira looked on warily. "I would feel much better if you would take someone with you Lucy." The takeover mage insisted.

Lucy was getting irritated. _"Did nobody think she could do things on her own? For Mavis's sake, she had lived on her own in Crocus for a year and didn't need anybody else!"_ she though angrily.

"I will do just fine on my own," she said dryly, turning towards the door "I'll be gone for about a week and a half" she said over her shoulder as she walked out of the guild.

* * *

Lucy sighed as she packed her bag. "I really was rude to Mira. She was just concerned for me…." She thought to herself as she tossed some clothing in the bag. "I should go back and apologize."

Lucy looked at the clock. It was just after noon. Natsu must have already been at the guild hall and found out about her leaving. If she ran into the pinkette she may not be able to leave without company tagging along unwanted. She would just pick up something nice for the takeover mage during her travels to make up for earlier.

Lucy zipped up her bag, making a mental check that she had everything she needed and ran out the door.

* * *

Natsu and Happy strolled into the guild hall around dinner time. Laughing and carrying all the fish they had caught out fishing, they came in and strolled over to Grey and Erza. Natsu looked around the hall hoping to see a certain blonde, but was disappointed when he saw she wasn't there.

Grey was predictably half naked, with no shirt, socks, or shoes on. Erza had a slice of her strawberry cake and was digging in eagerly. Happy was showing off the fish they had caught when Natsu plopped down at the table. "Has anyone seen Lucy? We went by her house to see if she would cook the fish we caught but she wasn't there. I was sure she would be here." Natsu said, disappointment evident in his voice.

Both Erza and Grey shook their heads. "I haven't seen her all day." Erza stated, eating another spoonful of cake.

Gajeel leaned over from his table next to the trio, "Bunny girl took a job this morning and left around noon."

"WHAT!?" Natsu and Happy yelled at the same time.

The pair ran over to Mira, who was working on cleaning glasses behind the bar. "MIRA! Where is Lucy!? Did she really go on a job alone!?"

Mira put her hands up, "Yes, Natsu," she said hesitantly, "She left earlier for Sunflower City."

Natsu and Happy sunk down to the floor, a cloud of disappointment and despair suddenly appearing over the two.

"Why would she leave without us?" Happy said sadly.

Natsu just shook his head. He couldn't think of a reason why the blonde would take a mission without him or one of the gang tagging along. I mean sure, they almost always destroyed parts of towns, but that was half the fun! He just couldn't believe she would leave without telling him.

Erza and Grey walked up to the sulking fire mage and Exceed. "Well, as surprising as this is, I think it is good that Lucy is getting out and doing a solo mission. She has gotten much stronger over the past year. I think she will be just fine" She said confidently.

"Can't say I blame her for wanting to go solo." Grey stated nonchalantly.

That comment made Natsu stand up to Grey's face, "Just because we break stuff doesn't mean she can just leave without telling anyone!" He yelled, fist engulfing in flames.

Grey didn't back down and got right in Natsu's face. "She told Mira and took a legal job request. It's not like she is running away! And besides that is not what I meant and if you weren't so much of a fucking stupid flame brain, you would see it!" A fiery fist connected with his cheek, sending him flying across the guild into Elfman's table. Soon an all-out brawl was ignited in the hall.

* * *

Lucy was curled up in her seat on the train, reading a book she had bought at the train station. As much as she missed the dragon slayer, it was a relief not having to worry about whether or not he was going to get sick. She laughed quietly to herself imagining what the slayer would have been saying about a 7 hour train ride.

Her features became grim again thinking about the fire mage. After he had left to train with Happy and the guild had been disbanded, she had waited in Magnolia for them. At first it hadn't been just her. Other members had stayed, most in disbelief and denial about the guild's dissolve. But one by one, they too had left, off to join other guilds or find work elsewhere. Soon, she had run out of money, and was forced to leave to Crocus to get her job at Sorcerer Weekly.

Tears fell onto the pages of her book. Now that the guild was back together, and things had settled down, her emotions had come crashing down on her. She felt hurt and betrayed by the ones closest to her.

Levy, Gajeel and Pantherlily had been the first to leave. Levy had always wanted to test out the waters of the Magic Council, something about a Library that only members had access to. Gajeel had followed her feigning that someone had to look after the "shrimp".

Grey and Juvia were next. They had gone off to train and had never came back.

Erza just ended up disappearing one day. She had said something about a large monster to the north she had always wanted to slay, and Lucy had never heard from her again.

But the worst hit to her had been Natsu and Happy's departure. Receiving that letter had devastated her. So many questions had run through her mind.

" _Why did they not ask me to join them?"_

" _Did they think I would have held them back?"_

" _Did they not want to take me because they think I am weak?"_

" _Am I weak?"_

All of those thoughts and more had plagued her mind in the year since then. She had trained to become stronger, mastering her magic powers and becoming one with her celestial spirts, a great feat even for the most experienced of celestial mages. But Natsu had come back into her life, and from what she had seen, he was light years out of her league.

Lucy angrily wiped the tears away. She had thought about other things too while she was in Crocus. About her relationship with the aforementioned mage. Although she had been denying it for the past year, when she had seen him in the arena for the first time, a wave of relief had flooded over her. Relief that he was alive and well. But that had also forced her to accept the obvious, even though she had felt a similar feeling when getting news about the others whereabouts, this feeling had been different. When she had looked upon those pink locks, she had felt the urge to run and embrace the idiot who had put her through all the self-doubt and heart ache. She wanted to hug him and never let go, out of fear that he would leave her again.

She had to accept that she was falling in love with the fire dragon slayer.

* * *

 **I am choosing to end here as it is almost midnight and I need to be up early. So what do you think!? This story is going to have some eventual lemons and lots of dark action and suggestive themes. I have big plans for this Fic. I know there wasn't much to this chapter, but I am setting a stage! Please comment and Follow my story and I promise I won't disappoint!**


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry for the long wait guys. I'm going to school full time, plus have 3 kids under 5! I am a busy woman! I'm going to try and make these longer but I will try to write when I have time…. Thanks again and REVIEW PLEASE!

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Steam rose from the hot bath the blonde currently sat in. The bathroom was simply furnished, with a small tub, toilet and sink. After being on a train for 7 hours, she needed this hot water to unkink her muscles. Lucy's long, blonde hair was tied up on top of her head as she submerged half her face, so the water reached just under her nose. She brought her legs up and hugged them to her chest, thinking about the truth that she could no longer deny.

She was in love with Natsu.

I guess it shouldn't be a huge surprise to her or anyone for that matter. They did everything together and he was constantly crashing at her house. They were practically a couple!

Except for the fact they never did anything remotely "couplish". Natsu was too dense to even know what any of that was. Lucy sighed under the water, creating bubbles that rose to the surface. She couldn't deny the fact that she WANTED to do those things with him though. She wanted to hold his hand, to rake her hand through his pink hair and see if it was as soft as she imagined. She wanted to kiss him, to see if he tasted like a campfire, like she imagined he would.

She rose from the bathtub slowly, grabbing the towel she had laid on the rack. Wrapping one around her body and the other one running through her hair, stepping out of the small bathroom into her hotel room. It was also simply furnished, with only a bed, small dresser, chair and desk. But looking out of her window she could see the gorgeous mountain range that this region was famous for. The moon illuminated the mountains and made them seem to glow with an unnatural aura, calming the celestial mage as she stared out her window.

A soft knock on her door brought her out of her daze. Forgetting that she was only in a towel, she strolled over to the door and opened it to see who it was. There stood a handsome man with dirty blonde hair cut in a short cut, but long enough to spike up a tad. He was about 6 foot tall and built, that she could tell even through his long sleeved shirt and pants. His grey eyes were gorgeous and the slight blush on his face made him look like more like and innocent boy than the man of about 23 he really was.

The man stood at the entrance to her room, not saying a word as the blush grew on his face to a deep red.

"Can I help you?" Lucy said irritated.

The man seemed to snap out of his daze and looked up and at anything other than Lucy's face as his bluish seemed to deepen, if that was even possible. "Ummmm… I'mmm the one whooooo, sent the request…" He stammered out.

Lucy shifted her stance causing her towel to reveal the top portion of her breasts, "Oh, would you like come in?"

The man's eyes looked up to the ceiling, "Yes miss, but….." he swallowed "could you please put some clothing on….."

Lucy looked down at her barely-there outfit. Feeling the embarrassment show on her face immediately she yelled and slammed the door in the man's face. Running around her room to throw on her pajamas with long pants, she rushed to the door, hoping the man was still there. He stood there with a look of shock on his face and seemed relieved when she opened the door with less reviling attire on.

"I am so sorry, you caught me right out of the bath."

The man's face blushed again at the mention of the bath but he walked in as she gestured for him to sit down at the desk chair. Lucy closed the door and took a seat on the bed facing the man.

He cleared his throat. "I am very sorry for the instruction Miss Heatfillia, I told my superior that we should wait till morning, but he insisted that I bring you up to speed tonight. My name is Farris. My self and a few others will be accompanying you tomorrow." Farris pulled a tattered paper out of the sack he had been carrying, carefully unfolding it to show Lucy. As he unfolded it, the blonde could see the ancient text, symbols and drawing scrawled across the dry parchment.

"As you can see, the text is ancient and no one in our group has been able to decipher much of it. Although this drawing," he said pointing to the drawing of what looked to be a hill of some sort, "We have determined to be the mountain range you see in the distance, but that is about it."

Lucy grabbed her speed reader glasses out of her suitcase and set about looking at the text. "Many of the symbols are similar to a book I came across on a mission to a town not far from here. Laurel, I think was the name." she said continuing to look over the document.

A hopeful look spread across Farris' face at the mention of the stellar mage recognizing the symbols. "So do you think you can decipher it?!"

"I already have!" Lucy said with a grin as she took off her gale force glasses. "Some of the symbols and letters were not mentioned in the book but I was able to use context clues from the text around it to get a pretty good idea of what it says."

Farris sat there in obvious awe of the blonde mage. For months, members of his crew had sought experts from far out lands and the only thing they could come up with was the general location in the mountain range. But this girl, after only 5 minutes, had almost deciphered the whole thing. To say he was impressed was an understatement.

"You are correct that it is hidden in that mountain range. The smaller peak to the east to be exact." She said pointing out the window to the peak just barely visible in the dark night. "The key is in a tomb. It was buried there as a 'protection' to the deceased but I can't make out their name in the script. Although it is obvious that this person was of high status from all the riches they are said to be buried with." Lucy carefully rolled up the paper and handed it back to Farris. "The text gives me a pretty god idea of where to find the entrance to the tomb. I could probably lead you and your crew there first thing in the morning." She said getting up from the bed.

Farris followed suit by standing, still looking at the blonde with a sense of wonderment. At her mention of a possible untouched tomb, his excitement was at a peak. "Oh Miss Hartfillia, this is even more than I could have imagined! Thank you for your services and I will inform the crew. We will head out at dawn!" Farris almost jumped in joy. He pulled the blonde into a large embrace and left her room to prepare for the trip.

The blonde however was rooted to her spot. Farris had just hugged her….. A man, who was fairly attractive, hugged her, and she liked it. Wasn't she supposed to be in love with Natsu?

Lucy slumped down to the bed as her thoughts got the best of her. Her and Natsu had been through many things in the short history they had. But the man was as dense a rock. Who knew if he even had feelings for her, let alone the mental capacity to act on those feelings in any way.

Was she second guessing her love of Natsu? No, that wasn't it. She loved him. But how did she love him? Was it just a friend? Or something more? Natsu had never made her feel like Farris just had. In the tight embrace, with his hair tickling her cheek, she felt… something. A stirring of emotions and feelings that was new to her. Granted Natsu had never hugged her or been in any way romantic with her, so she couldn't know if he would have the same effect.

Lucy lay down in the bed, ready to fall asleep for her early day tomorrow. Trying to ponder her feelings and what they meant about her favorite dragon slayer….. Or what they didn't mean….

* * *

Ok, So I am stopping here because it just seemed like a natural place to stop. I am very sorry for the slow updates I have been blessed with minimal homework this weekend and I may try to get some of the next chapter done this weekend. As always, reviews and comments will motivate me to get to it! Thank you!


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